Alexandra Stréliski shares new single 'BORDERS'
Praise for Alexandra Stréliski:
“one of the foremost new stars in modern classical” - Billboard
“She uses the piano to distil emotion from her lived experiences, and the results boast a tremendous impact on the ear and the screen.” - VICE
The Platinum-selling composer and pianist Alexandra Stréliski, shares new single ‘BORDERS’ taken from new album Néo-Romance out 14th April 2023 (UK) via XXIM Records/Sony Masterworks - a record that’s sure to cement Stréliski’s status as one of the most successful female neo-classical artists of all time.
In addition to over 300 million audio streams and 140k album sales, she has won multiple awards, including Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2020 JUNO Awards, and her music has featured in Dallas Buyers Club, Demolition, Big Little Lies, and even has music played during the Oscars, and she collaborated with Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée to create new compositions for the HBO miniseries, Sharp Objects.
‘BORDERS’ is an emotionally striking yet minimalist piece with the power to resonate with any listener, those themes are reflected in the piece’s calm, haunting sweep and general air of bliss. On the single Stréliski says: “‘BORDERS’ is a hymn for tolerance. A moment of hope for a more unified and less divided world.”
Watch the video for ‘BORDERS’ HERE
The new single is also tied into the wider idea behind Néo-Romance; in the process of writing and recording the album, Alexandra reconnected with her European roots to get closer to her ancestors and the idea of romanticism, finding inspiration to share new stories through music - the idea of encapsulating and expressing emotions through art, and the Romantics’ love of individual expression over the restraints of tradition.
A trailblazing woman in the modern classical world, her minimalist, emotionally striking music has enthralled listeners the world over. Debut album Pianoscope (2010), originally self-released with Stréliski’s mother sending out mail-order copies from her basement, garnered increased momentum over time and built a dedicated fanbase. This led Stréliski to sign with Montreal-based label Secret City for her second album, 2018’s INSCAPE. The album was a stunning success, reaching Platinum status in Canada, with debut Pianoscope reaching Gold status simultaneously.
In support of the album, Stréliski will be touring extensively throughout 2023 with shows in Europe and North America, and just one UK show at London’s St Matthias’ Church on 4th May 2023. Tickets on-sale now here.
Néo-Romance
Out 14th April 2023 (UK) via via XXIM Records/Sony Masterworks
Pre-order HERE
TOUR DATES 2023
APRIL
11/04 - MONTRÉAL (CA) - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts
12/04 - MONTRÉAL (CA) - Salle Wilfrid Pelletier de la Place des Arts
23/04 - BERLIN (DE) - silent green
25/04 - PARIS (FR) - La Cigale
28/04 - LUXEMBOURG (LU) -Rotondes
MAY
01/05 - HAMBURG (DE) - Elbphilarmonie, Kleiner Saal
02/05 - OBERHAUSEN (DE) - Ebertbad
04/05 - LONDON (UK) - St Matthias’ Church
05/05 - DUBLIN (IE) - The Sugar Club
08/05 - VIENNA (AT) - Konzerthaus
09/05 - NÜRNBERG (DE) - Neue Museum
11/05 - GRONINGEN (NL) - Lutherse Kerk
12/05 - UTRECHT (NL) - Tivoli Vredenburg
18/05 - TORONTO (CA) - Massey Hall
20/05 - OTTAWA (CA) - Centre national des Arts
25/05 - LOS ANGELES (US) - Masonic Lodge
27/05 - NEW YORK (US) - National Sawdust
JUNE
09/06 - QUÉBEC (CA) - Grand Théâtre de Québec
10/06 - QUÉBEC (CA) - Grand Théâtre de Québec
AUGUST
24/08 - JOLIETTE (CA) - Amphithéâtre Fernand Lindsay
25/08 - JOLIETTE (CA) - Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay
26/08 - JOLIETTE (CA) - Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay
Tickets on-sale now HERE
Néo-Romance
Out 14th April 2023 via via XXIM Records/Sony Masterworks
Pre-order HERE
Tracklisting
1. Ad Libre
2. Lumières
3. the first kiss
4. Dans les bois
5. Air de famille
6. Rêveries
7. In the air
8. The hills
9. one last dance
10. (ouverture)
11. The Breach
12. Élégie
13. BORDERS
14. a new romance
About Alexandra Stréliski:
For new record Néo-Romance, Montreal pianist and composer Alexandra Stréliski pondered a question. Intrigued by Romanticism, the romantics, and their “super dark” relationship to nature, she wondered what it all meant in this modern world we’ve created. “The ancient past, freedom from rules, devotion to beauty, these big romantic themes, but really expressed in a post-modern way,” she says. “How do you remain in that imaginary world in these disillusioned, scary times we’re living through? That was the premise and setting for the album.”
It’s also the latest chapter of a stellar career that’s garnered no end of critical acclaim and commercial success. A trailblazing woman in the modern classical world, her minimalist, emotionally striking music has enthralled listeners the world over. Debut album Pianoscope (2010), originally self-released with Stréliski’s mother sending out mail-order copies from her basement, garnered increased momentum over time and built a dedicated fanbase, featuring in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Demolition (2016), and during the Oscars (2014). This led Stréliski to sign with Montreal-based label Secret City for her second album, 2018’s INSCAPE. The album was a stunning success, reaching Platinum status in Canada, with debut Pianoscope reaching Gold status simultaneously. INSCAPE went on to win multiple awards including Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2020 JUNO Awards alongside global streaming success. Then, having become a household name in Canada’s vibrant music scene, and with over 300 million audio streams and 140k album sales to her name, Streliski went back to the drawing board.
Thus the subject matter of Néo-Romance was but one departure from Stréliski’s usual modus operandi. Long associated with the neo-classical movement, she wanted to distance herself from a tag that doesn’t accurately reflect her work. Inspired by the idea of encapsulating and expressing emotions through art, and the Romantics’ love of individual expression over the restraints of tradition, she set out to follow her instinct. “I’m much more of a romantic in the sense that I express my own inner world to make sense of the wider world,” she says. “So, the thread I’m pulling on here is the idea of neo-romance, in a musical way but also as a form of contemplation.”
Composing and recording in Europe for the first time, she also worked with several new musicians and collaborators and explored her family’s past – “following my roots,” is how she describes it. Néo-Romance itself was written mainly in Rotterdam, where Stréliski moved to be with her partner. And in doing so, she discovered some surprising – and prescient – facts about her own past. She visited homes in Amsterdam where her ancestors once lived; consulted a library in Paris to find compositions of her forebearers, teachers and composers from the Romantic Age.
“My dad is French, my family have Polish Jewish origins, and I somehow ended up exactly where they used to live. I always felt that I was the only musician in my immediate family – that I was just this weirdo artist – but it turns out my ancestors were all directors, violinists, and theatre managers; many of the women were actresses. I didn’t know the story, so it opened these doors of reflection and identity. Of asking: ‘Where do I come from? Does music follow you through generations? What does this mean in my life?’”
These notions of collective identity and shared history resonated deeply with Stréliski, compounded by the forced separations and feelings of isolation brought on by pandemic lockdowns. Folded into her nascent musical ideas, Néo-Romance took shape, the songs coming “from a very deep, very personal space” but expressing something much broader. Something with a narrative. “Néo-Romance is more about imagining things and telling stories. To lose yourself whilst listening, as a way to resist disenchantment and isolation”.
Besides, Romanticism has long been a part of Stréliski’s musical life. “I was raised playing and listening to Chopin, so it resides deep in my core,” she says. “I feel like a romantic composer myself. And with a new love leading me back to Europe, to my roots and these discoveries, it just all came together. It made perfect sense.”
The result is a wonderous collection of 14 songs, full of crystalline beauty and poignant, wistful melancholia; “Some of the saddest music I’ve ever written,” adds Stréliski. Some of the most stunningly beautiful, too, from the soft, gentle Rêveries to the calm, haunting sweep of BORDERS. There’s The hills and The Breach, whose quick ascending and descending piano arpeggios lend a sense of urgency and edge, and the slow, unfurling of a new romance, the thoughtful and uplifting album closer.
Néo-Romance is a spacious listen too, Stréliski unafraid to take long pauses, letting the music really breathe and “speak in the silences,” as she puts it. “I really wanted to take my time – there’s something more mature in not speaking than in speaking. But then I’m also very melodic driven, very thematic – I mostly want my music’s emotional sincerity and evocative nature to shine through.”
Another first: Stréliski wrote for and recorded a string trio in Paris, two of whom from Poland, adding to the Polish-Jewish thread she feels has left traces through her music. She also recorded a church organ, layering it subtly beneath her piano lines. The strings on First Kiss gently soar and swoop, adding depth and texture; on Élégie – one of Néo-Romance’s most emotional, dramatic pieces – a gorgeous, plaintive violin takes centre stage, stirring the soul and tugging the heart. “I’m very proud of that song,” she says. “It’s so very different to what I’ve previously written.”
Such details came from Stréliski’s desire to “broaden the spectrum a little, to go deep within the emotions.” Thus each piece is a small chronicle, a self-contained little world. “They all tell their stories,” she says. The flow and pacing are deliberate, too, forming a narrative arc that “really brings you from one place to another through all the ups and downs.”
And it all comes back to that central idea – to dare to keep dreaming, no matter what life throws at us. “I want people to remember the importance of the immensity of our emotional spectrum as humans, and the universality of it, as opposed to being polarised. We all go through the same, shared traumas – life, death, breakups – so how can we remain hopeful and dreamers of our own, wonderful existence? We can get lost and live in our emotions, pure as they are – it’s all within us, and I see hope in that.”
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